I can assure you none of the ride ops on the smiler are as young as 18.

There are 18-year-old ops at Towers, but operator positions aren't just given out like sweets. You have to have at least a years hosting experience, although there are some exceptions, and you almost always start out on a smaller ride, such as the Mutiny Bay and Cloud Cuckoo Land rides, before moving onto the bigger attractions. 18 is the minimum age, so I get annoyed how people are dismissing them as just kids.

Missingaa, I must say that I genuinely love my job and I thought that my training was second to none. It was in-depth, well delivered and a good combination of theory and practical, and they always seem keen to get you passed off on as many rides as possible. There may have been changes but on the aspect of training it has seemingly always been good.

Missingaa, I must say that I genuinely love my job and I thought that my training was second to none. It was in-depth, well delivered and a good combination of theory and practical, and they always seem keen to get you passed off on as many rides as possible. There may have been changes but on the aspect of training it has seemingly always been good.

So their training is still fantastic then, and it is still a great place to work, that's great to hear... Thank you.

It did surprise me to read the account on that blog, as it was not my experience of the place at all.

I can assure you none of the ride ops on the smiler are as young as 18.

There are 18-year-old ops at Towers, but operator positions aren't just given out like sweets. You have to have at least a years hosting experience, although there are some exceptions, and you almost always start out on a smaller ride, such as the Mutiny Bay and Cloud Cuckoo Land rides, before moving onto the bigger attractions. 18 is the minimum age, so I get annoyed how people are dismissing them as just kids.

Missingaa, I must say that I genuinely love my job and I thought that my training was second to none. It was in-depth, well delivered and a good combination of theory and practical, and they always seem keen to get you passed off on as many rides as possible. There may have been changes but on the aspect of training it has seemingly always been good.

Would you say that from the training you were given, you were taught how to deal with an emergency situation whilst working on a ride? As that is what that ex worker claims he was taught nothing of the kind. Do they specifically teach you what to do if there is an accident involving your ride and what you should do to help etc;?

You are trained on evacuation procedures and what to do if there is a fire/intruder threat and who to contact. That being said they prepare you for situations that you are somewhat likely to come across; the situation on Tuesday was certainly not one of them, however, the hosts did the right thing by getting people out of the area and letting the professionals deal with the injured.

The important thing is that you are training to a high level on how to do your job safely. Obviously the key thing is to make sure that staff know how to avoid things like this accident occurring in the first place. Of course something has gone wrong here, but to blame Alton Towers training methods, is a bit unfair when their record is really good. I would guess that most people who have worked there, and other similar places are likely to tell you the same as I have, that Alton Towers training is far far superior.

Quite what the OP of that blog expects AT to train it's staff in I am unsure. Does he think they should be trained how to cut people from a wreck? How to treat the wounded? By all accounts so far, the staff did their job wonderfully from the point of the accident. Evacuated the area, called first responders, and so on. That is what they are trained to do, that is what they did, I don't see what else could have been done.

God I'd love to work at Alton, I mean it's a bit of a shame that I currently live 260 miles away from it. The actual hands-on experience would be amazing. Obviously with the whole elephant in the room thing I can't imagine Alton doing fantastically well on the whole "let's bring in people" thing

For anyone applying for ride host I wanted to add that I've loved this season and you probably will too! I am happy to give any advice as long as it doesn't entail information that could potentially get me into trouble; things like interview advice and what looks good etc .If you're considering it, do it!